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Escaped
murderers surrender with hostage unharmed
ARDMORE,
Okla. (AP) — Two convicted murderers who broke out of a Texas
jail surrendered peacefully early Thursday, hours after seizing
a hostage at an Oklahoma gas station. Two other fugitives who escaped
with the pair last month were also captured.
The
hostage-takers, Curtis Gambill and Joshua Bagwell, gave up at 4:30
a.m., FBI Special Agent Richard Marquise said. He said the fugitives’
only request was to talk to relatives by telephone.
The
hostage, store owner George West, 65, emerged unharmed.
Authorities
arrested the other escaped inmates, Chrystal Gale Soto and Charles
Jordan, outside the store at 9:50 p.m. Wednesday while Jordan was
using a pay phone, said Kym Koch, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma
State Bureau of Investigation. Soto and Jordan are both murder suspects.
The
four have been linked to two burglaries in recent days and the theft
of a flatbed truck in southern Oklahoma. A .22-caliber rifle was
taken in one of the burglaries.
The
standoff lasted as long as it did because Gambill and Bagwell took
the opportunity to eat more food than they had in more than a week,
Marquise said.
All
four fugitives were taken to the Carter County Jail in Ardmore after
their arrests. It was not immediately known when they would appear
in court.
Jail
escapees thought to be in Fort Worth
GRANBURY
(AP) — Two North Texas jail escapees were sought Thursday after
they cut their way to freedom.
Police
said the Hood County jail inmates may be headed to Johnson or Tarrant
counties, where they have ties. A truck stolen near the prison was
found in the Fort Worth area after Wednesday’s escape in which
the pair crawled through an air conditioning vent in their cell
to the roof.
Bars
covering the vent were cut, officials said.
The
fugitives were identified as Michael Ray West, formerly held on
a felony charge of unlawfully carrying a weapon; and James Michael
Vick, held on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance.
Vick,
28, of Granbury had also been jailed on a parole violation. He was
released from prison in 2000 after serving two years of a five-year
sentence on a drug charge.
West,
32, of Lipan was additionally wanted for a parole violation, said
police. Sentenced to 20 years for car theft, he was released from
prison two years ago after serving 10 years.
Patrol
Capt. Jerry East said three dozen law enforcement officers, along
with tracking dogs, were searching the county.
The
inmates were discovered missing sometime between 6 a.m. and 9:30
a.m. Wednesday, when a head count was conducted.
House
allots $800 Million for hacking research
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The House voted Thursday to provide colleges and research
groups with $800 million over the next five years to figure out
new ways to protect computers against hackers.
The
bill, fueled in part by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a new
focus on weaknesses in business and government computer security,
passed 400-12.
”...All
the tools of our daily lives are connected to and reliant upon computer
networks,” said House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert,
R-N.Y. “A cyber attack could knock out electricity, drinking
water and sewage systems, financial institutions, assembly lines
and communications.”
The
bill would create new research and education grants at the National
Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
It was endorsed by
several technology trade groups and universities that have lamented
the lack of college courses in computer security.
It
now moves to the Senate, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is considering
whether to sponsor the measure there, spokesmen for Wyden and Boehlert
said.
Almost
every federal agency has been criticized by government investigators
for lax computer security.
Securing
the nation’s infrastructure — from the national power
grid to individual computers — became more of a Bush administration
priority after Sept. 11. Recently, Microsoft’s top security
guru, Howard Schmidt, joined White House technology adviser Richard
Clarke’s staff.
While
current cyber attacks are usually confined to harassments and Web
site graffiti, security experts predict the assaults will be more
dangerous in the future. Last year, the CIA said it knew of three
countries — the United States, China and Russia — that
are training
soldiers to attack and defend targets through the Internet.
Wyoming
student changes drunk driving plea to guilty
LARAMIE,
Wyo. (AP) — A University of Wyoming student accused of causing
a drunken driving collision that killed eight student-athletes changed
his plea to guilty Thursday.
Clinton
Haskins pleaded guilty to eight counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
The pleas — which still must be accepted by a judge —
were made under an agreement in which prosecutor Cal Rerucha will
recommend a penalty of 14 to 20 years
in prison.
During
a 15-minute hearing, District Judge Jeffrey A. Donnell ordered a
presentence investigation of Haskins, and reserved the right to
reject the plea agreement depending on what the investigation finds.
The judge would also determine restitution and fines, according
to Donnell’s law clerk, Tori Kricken.
If
Donnell rejects the agreement, Haskins could withdraw his guilty
pleas and the case could go to trial.
Haskins,
a senior at UW and a rodeo athlete, was accused of being drunk when
his pickup veered into the oncoming lane of U.S. 287 south of Laramie
on Sept. 16. It collided head-on with a sport-utility vehicle carrying
eight UW track and cross-country athletes. All eight were killed.
Police
said Haskins’ blood alcohol level was 0.16 percent. Wyoming’s
legal limit for drivers is 0.10.
The
defense had fought unsuccessfully to prevent the blood evidence
from being presented at trial. Defense attorney Michael Krampner
had argued that Haskins did not consent to the blood test and that
releasing the test result to investigators violated patient-doctor
confidentiality.
The
deaths stunned a campus already grieving over the horror of the
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon less than
a week before.
Discussion
of Brown University Police carrying arms
PROVIDENCE,
R.I. (U-WIRE) — Brown University President Ruth Simmons plans
to hold a community forum next Tuesday to discuss arming Brown Police.
Members
of the Undergraduate Council of Students told The Herald Tuesday
night Simmons had come to a decision to arm Brown Police and would
announce it at the forum next Tuesday, but Donald Reaves, executive
vice president for finance and administration, denied both claims.
Since
the inception of BUPS in 1970, it has been policy for Brown Police
officers not to carry weapons. Officers have been armed only for
special circumstances, such as during some commencement exercises
and waves of campus assaults.
More
than half of all campus police departments in the country are armed,
according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Campus Law Enforcement
Statistics.
While
81 percent of public universities have armed police, a mere 34 percent
of private university police officers carry guns, according to a
DOJ survey released in 1996.
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